The Cat

[jamcde03]

Sleek, black, dark, and clever: benzoin, honey, cedar, and dark musk.

oh dear. first?! ok.

in the bottle, it's awfully light- benzoin and cedar, mostly, but in a nice woody kind of way, not a hamster-cage cedar.
on me, still mostly benzoin and wood, with a little bit of furry muskiness. there's a sweetness from the honey, but i don't actually smell the honey. as it dries something is reminding me of bergamot, but not quite as sharp as bergamot can be. it's nice, but a little bit.. wimpy? there's not much base to it, yet.

this fades fairly quickly, and i was hoping for more dark musk out of it, but i can see this aging to be darker and stronger. i'm gonna hang on to it, and will update in a few weeks or so to see what happens.

edit: morpher alert! hello, mysterious musk, you are smelling very dark and mysterious two hours later. Edited April 1, 2013 by bonny

[kashmira]

I was a bit hesitant of this scent by its note descriptions, as cedar can be iffy on me. However, I am pleased to say the cedar behaves itself in this one.

 

From the bottle, I could smell a bit of sweetness, but cedar and musk definitely are the predominant notes.

On me, the cedar and musk start to get a bit aggressive but are shortly tempered by the honey.

 

The honey becomes the predominant note, but it is more of a "dark honey" -- the benzoin and musk keep it from turning into a sickly sweet scent.

 

I'm happy to say this scent lasts on me all day -- I get whiffs of sweetness that are warm and comforting.

 

The Cat reminds me of what a dark brown/almost black cat might smell like if they decided to wander through a sugar factory -- it is a dark, mysterious, furry, sweet scent.

[fufu_berry]

Cedar and musk. Very clean and outdoorsy - I barely get any honey.

[KawaiiKai]

In the bottle this smells as if I opened a tightly shut cedar box with a piece of benzoin inside. First applied, I get the cedar and sweetness and I could swear there's almost a fuzziness about it. This scent stage, to me, smells very close to my youngest son. It's the scent I take in when I bury my nose by the crown of his head, clean hair and a soft, comforting sweet scent. This steps back as the cedar strengthens and takes center stage for a couple of hours. Dry down brings the bowing back of cedar so that the sweetness from the honey and benzoin is now the main act. Finally, it stops at cedar having left the building and the honey-benzoin stays. No more musk, which I think gave me the furry impression, but now just the scent of my little one. There is no way I cannot order more of this for that reason alone.

It is now 18+ hours and this is still on my arm. It has a strong throw as well, I could smell it from my arm at my side as I sat last night.

This is wonderful!

Edited April 22, 2013 by KawaiiKai

[lookingglass]

I, too, am wary of cedar, but this is amazing! It's everything I love in a fragrance: dark and sweet yet somehow just like a body should smell. It's wonderfully chewy, almost like a molasses caramel, with a fresh topnote from the wood and the green in the honey. Dried out it is both cuddly, without being too cute, and animalic. The sweetness is almost like coconut husk. It is reminiscent of classic orientals, but so much more wearable. Lovers of Snake Oil, Snake Charmer, and Banshee Beat will want to try this! Top 10!!!!

 

eta: It's a complement getter for me, especially from my partner...meow!

Edited August 18, 2013 by lookingglass

[Poenari]

I didn't really get the cedar, just fuzzy musky goodness. This smells like my tortie cat should, and will if I rub just a little on the back of her neck.

[JazzieCazzie]

I very rarely, these days, buy a 5 ML unsniffed or untested via decant but The Cat was one I'd had my eye on since the Coraline series was released since I tend to like/love all four notes. I had hesitated on joining a decant circle just for one decant (and you know what they say about "he who hesitates") ... but finally, when I placed a mega-order last week I gave in (opted for The Cat over the new releases) ... this review comes from the imp I decanted for regular use before lovingly storing the bottle with its friends in a cool, dry, smokefree place

 

IN THE IMP: This is one of the nicest "imp sniffs" in a long time ... the benzoin and cedar are definitely predominant but the image to me is soft, comforting and cuddly, just like a kitty in my lap.

 

Dabbed the residue from the dropper and the funnel on both wrists and in both crooks of my arms.

 

WET: The initial wet scent is heavily cedar (and j'adore cedar, I'm one of the people that it works marvelously on, happily!) and benzoin. To me, both of those are what I term "comfort scents" from my childhood. The honey, at first, is much more subtle, noticeable only in the crooks of my arms and not on my wrists. The musk, as it often is with me, is the note that somehow ties everything else together.

 

DRYDOWN: As the blend dries, the honey really rises to the top of the mix. But as Kashmira said in an earlier review, it's a very dark honey, and combined with the musk it's quite subtle and lovely and not "in your face" or overly sweet. My only wish would be that the cedar and benzoin remained more prevalent overall.

 

OVERALL: This is a wonderful, unique and comforting blend on me. I love the BPAL honey note, but there have been some blends where I didn't love the combinations because they were just too sweet. This is one of my favorite honey blends -- the perfect balance of sweet, woody, resiny and musky.

 

On a scale of 1-5, a 4.9.

[Dark Alice]

Cedar and honey which blends into a wonderful musky animal scent. The cat is a honey I can wear. I just hope that with some age...the benzoin kicks in.

[Lethran]

In bottle: Cedar dominant with the benzoin blending beautifully with it. The honey it a counterpoint. The musk is soft and blends well with benzoin and honey. Wet: Still cedar dominant, but the benzoin is nearly as strong with the honey now supporting the benzoin. It was woodier in the bottle, sweeter on the skin. As it wears, the honey over takes the benzoin. The musk is gentle, but pervasive. This has a fresh, bright feel to it. Dry: Mostly cedar with a bit of benzoin.

[stellamaris]

Musky and gorgeous! I love this, and it reminds me of something, but I cannot figure out what.

[becca_s]

Cedar is an iffy note for me, but in The Cat, it doesn't take over it blends in so well with the dark musk and other notes. I can detect a hint of honey and benzoin, the honey is also a note that can take over for me, but here is just lends a lovely warmth which compliments the cedar and musk so well. This is really well blended and all the notes go together so well, on me it's not a blend where one of the notes take over, instead they all blend to create one lovely whole. It does evoke images of a black cat who has been climbing trees and playing in the grass. I really like this one and I am interested to see how it will age.

[Monday]

Starts out nice with some sweetness from the benzoin plus honey with dark cedar. Slinky and clever.

But it goes into bad breath territory after an hour , very pungent and difficult to scrub off. Darn why can't honey behave on my skin for once!

[ReallyZeb]

Skin, why do you do this to me?

 

I wanted to love this, I want to be a sleek, dark, clever, slinky cat. Sadly, while wearing this, I am a plasticky chewed-up squeaky dog toy.

 

I get a lovely musk in the bottle, I get a lovely musk with a bit of cedar after a few hours, but in between I get this:

[KittyHawk]

The Cat starts out as a blast of cedar (which I love) dripping in sweet, golden honey. The cedar mellows pretty quickly, and I'm left with a pretty, musky honey a few hours later. I see this aging really well.

[Blood onmy hands]

On me, this is a metallic, herbal honey mixed with a sour, slightly spicy smelling cedar and hints of powdery black musk. Unfortunately, all of that together somehow reminds me of body odor and curry powder...

[theseagrows]

i am re-reviewing this one- at the outset i think i get benzoin and honey. i dunno, it's so familiar but doesn't really smell like any of the notes separately. the musk is a cooler rather than warmer musk to my nose, interestingly enough, if that makes any sense. later on i get some odd nuttiness. now cedar doesn't often work for me, but it never smells like this, so i don't know what is going on here, but there is an element of sogginess to this. i don't know how else to explain it-damp and a bit dank. not sure what could be doing that. is it an odd sort of musk? maybe large amounts of benzoin don't work for me! i am so confused.

Edited April 24, 2015 by theseagrows

[zankoku_zen]

Musk, cedar and metallic honey.

 

This smells dark, heady, and animalistic.

[milo]

Definitely getting the dark musk here, which is one of my favourite notes. Amber takes a close second, another fave note. This blend is full of win for me, it kind of reminds me of Haunted, but a bit sweeter from the Benzoin, and a bit like Black Temple Burlesque Troupe, but no cocoa, and still sweeter. This is sleek, dark and sweet, and I think I need a bottle.

 

I could have sworn there was amber here, but I just peeked and no, there isn't. This blend is very amber/musk-like though. I'm betting it's the honey and benzoin giving it that quality. Not getting any cedar...

Edited June 14, 2013 by milo

[angelamaria]

In the bottle: cedar and honey. It's dark, yes, but with a sharp edge to it.

 

Wet on skin: it's softer, a bit cuddlier, but still dark and...I'm not sure, almost comforting> The topmost notes are still cedar and honey, and there is an almost foody benzoin coming up at this phase.

 

Dry: mostly sweet cedar, with a soft, cuddly musk. The benzoin, recedes--not that it was very apparent in the first place, to give this an almost brittle feel, somewhat powdery but not quite. If I look for the benzoin, I can get to it, but it's really more of a background scent to hold up the rest. At some points it feels incensey as well.

 

Verdict: I really wanted to like this, and tested a few times as the bottle ages, but ultimately not for me. It's a very lovely cedar scent but I'm not a cedar girl and the brittleness/lack of benzoin was the nail in the coffin.

[JasminDreams2010]

On me this is identical to Lush American Cream. I would say if you like that this is a must-have.

 

It's pretty on me but for a benzoin fix I prefer callidora

[Balame]

Got it! After wearing this for an hour or so I finally came upon the scent association it was evoking: a higher-end version of Johnson & Johnson's "No More Tears" baby shampoo.

 

It started out better. I got a warm but gentle musk brushed with crisp cedar. The honey/benzoin slowly came out and softened the edges, making me think of fur. Then the honey amped and sadly I don't have a good track record with BPAL's honey; it generally turns into plastic or gets too cloyingly sweet.

 

Here it just turned this into fancy J&J's shampoo. That's not terrible in my opinion, as it's a fairly comforting scent and reminds me of my childhood (mixed feelings there), but I'm definitely not crazy about it either. Too syrupy and slightly artificial on me.

[Atrous]

In the vial: Cedar, but the benzoin/honey are making it powdery and sweet.

 

Wet stage: Wet, the honey makes this smell almost identical to O.

 

Dry stage: As the blend dries down musk comes out. The Cat is mostly musk and cedar. Benzoin and honey play supporting roles in rounding out this blend and giving it a soft, cuddly feel. I'm loving The Cat.

[dementia_divine]

In the decant: Sometimes I smell more honey, cedar, and musk, but other times, I open it and am met with the benzoin as well.

Wet: Lots of honey, musk, and cedar, softened a bit by the benzoin. The cedar in this reminds me of the one in Tombstone.

Dry: Powdery honey, musk, and resins. Quite strong.

Verdict: This was okay, but it's not really me. (I'm not a big fan of dark musk, and I have other honey scents that I prefer.)

[agirlnamedfury]

I only get the slightest bit of cedar in this, and zero honey, which is unfortunate as I'm a honey FIEND. This mostly smells like weird chemically plastic on me. Le sigh. This is what I get for buying bottles unsniffed.

[faylie]

Wow, this is lovely. In the first five minutes I didn't know what ti think, it started off pretty sharp, went through numerous morphs, then settled down. For a few hours it smelled similar to Velvet even down to smelling some chocolate in it somehow, maybe he licked a few drips from Coraline's Other Hot Chocolate (which I will be trying after I shower tonight), but a bit more woodsy and sweet, then slowly more honey came out, this smells like a different honey to the one which tends towards powdery plastic on me. It really is lovely, I can see it becoming one I will wear a lot this Autumn. It is keeping true with my theory that all cat related scents of Beth's smell wonderful on me.